Comfort is the main obstacle to Education Reform. Upon first stating this, it seems to be a ridiculous statement, so I guess I need to elaborate. This is a subject I discuss with my pre-service teachers at almost every seminar class and teaching observation. Of course it doesn’t have a great effect on my students, because of the arrogance of youth. They all know better than I.
If we ask,” Why aren’t educators engaging more forcefully in reform?” the answer is always the same. Educators are not comfortable with change. When we ask about educators using Tech as a tool for learning, the answer is that educators are not yet comfortable with technology (even though it has been around since the 80’s). I guess time does not create comfort. When we ask why haven’t more educators adopted a teaching method for project-based learning, or problem-solving methods, or authentic learning, or a focus on critical thinking skills, or Electronic portfolios to replace grades? Obvious answer: Educators are not yet comfortable with these subjects.
Since comfort is having such an effect on Education, I guess the next logical thing to do is to determine what “comfort” is. I am not a researcher, so I am not dealing with data. I am an observer, so I am more than comfortable offering my observations on this topic of comfort. I know from watching ten cooking shows each week that comfort food is a recognized commodity. It is often a very familiar food that a person grew up with. It comforts them to eat it as it brings back all the memories and emotions of a safer, earlier time. Maybe we need to think of learning in terms of a commodity. As far as it applies to educators, I think they harken to a time in their lives when learning for them was easy or at least doable. They may have worked at it but it was uncomplicated and it made sense. It only stands to reason that, if it worked for them as a student, it should work for their students as well. Go with what you know! Not so fast Kimosabe
Working with student teachers I have noted one problem that overtakes some student teachers. Starting out, they have a tendency to fall back on what they are most familiar with from their most recent learning experience. They are familiar, or comfortable, with the lecture method of college professors and occasionally student teachers believe that college lectures will work with the students. . It only stands to reason that, if it worked for them as a student, it should work for their students as well. The problem is that they are working with secondary students not highly motivated college kids who have already mastered what the education system had to offer.
Here comes my theory on why so many educators don’t get it. As I often tell my students, they are in a small percentage of people who understand and succeed in the education system. The fact that they made it to college puts them in a very small percentage of all people who complete a secondary education. With every additional year that they complete college commitments, they climb further up the ladder of the educational elite. They are comfortable with the system, as it is, because they have been successful in that system. They represent maybe the top ten percent of the country. Their comfort with the system has assured their success. Their success reassures their comfort. The problem they will face as educators, however, is that they will be working with 90% of kids who are not as comfortable with the education system the way that their teacher is comfortable with it.
This also holds true for teachers of generations before. It is not a generational thing however, it is a learning thing. For some, their comfort level may rest in the era in which they went to school. It was most likely an era when Technology was not incorporated into curriculum. It certainly was an era where there was little done with the internet, or social learning. It was a time when there was no WEB 2.0 tools enabling creativity at no cost, and could be accessed at anytime, and anyplace. It was a time of lecture as opposed to project based learning. Direct instruction was king and creation of content was best exemplified in the research paper. Grades ruled and electronic portfolios were a theory. This is what too many educators were comfortable with, because it is what made them successful academically. The attitude making all this possible is,”If it was good enough for me, it is good enough for my students.”This, to me, is what is meant by “the teacher’s comfort level”.
Everyone supports reform, but few support change that may be too uncomfortable. I am not saying that teachers are bad. I am a teacher who supports teachers. I am saying that the comfort level obstacle to reform must be overcome. We need to lead people from their comfort zones and get them comfortable with new tools and new methods that will make a difference in education. They need to be led to new comfort zones.
There are so many things that need to be changed it is difficult to pick a starting point. The biggest obstacle however, is change itself. Until the status quo is made more uncomfortable than reform there may be no reform. We need to focus on Professional Development and providing teachers with what they need to affect reform. That will take change and change is never comfortable.
Great teachers do not come from college classrooms; they are developed on the job. We need to get educators comfortable with a new model for teaching and learning. This can only be done with thoughtful and meaningful Professional Development. The educators comfort level, with what was helpful to them in the past, is not what makes 90% of our students comfortable in the present. We are losing a majority of our kids who are uncomfortable with a system that they do not find relevant. We can’t let the comfort of educators outweigh the discomfort that a majority of our students feel every day with our education system.
I hear ya! At my school I just had a parent ask me if I was doing anything to about the fact that I’m the only teacher who doesn’t use grades and who doesn’t use rewards and punishments to motivate students. I told the parent that I have breached that conversation with my staff that I am sharing the resources that got me thinking about changing the way I do things. I told the parent that I am hopeful that we will keep the conversation going and that it might lead to more change. We’ll see.
I just wonder, how do we make the comfortable, uncomfortable? I hope that sharing resources like this blog and the blogs of those who are questioning the status quo will make more teachers uncomfortable with doing things that don’t work well with most of our students.
I think one way to effect change is to speak up in as many fora as possible to address some of the commonly-held misconceptions (e.g. that test scores are in some way a reflection of teaching quality), AND to let others know progressive educators really are out there.
Good on you, Alfonso!
This Comfort is not the main obstacle to Education Reform! Sorry, I couldn’t resist.
I believe this is a long slow process – no magic bullets, no quick fixes. As teachers find allies in this journey and experience success, they will communicate a new sense of excitement and engagement in the teaching/learning that will encourage the foot-draggers to jump on the bus.
I think that a consistent , albeit slow, advance will inevitably create an irresistible momentum. Keep the faith and soldier on and it will happen.
Another factor to think about is that there are quite a few people talking about reform, but not that many showing how the theory works. As more teachers show what they are doing and how it is done and also the benefits, then change will come. We need more of the “how” and less of the “why”.
This,however, is hard to do. Look at my blog. I still find myself writing an awful lot about why we need to change and not how.
Tom here is my take on all this…I come from education in the early sixties to mid-70s…I am nearing retirement from our educational system so you would think I work in the comfort zone you write about…I do not and never will…I am sorry but after almost 30 yrs and seeing new and old teachers (so to speak) on my journey I see it as those who are risk takers and the “play-it-safers”. Sorry folks who read this for being black and white but unless you are willing to take a risk and look at new ways then you will never move education forward. Why not use technology..it is exciting but it is also risky because you may fail at first using it…or using a new methodology or way to teachinbg -again too risky…I could also say that getting out of the comfort zone is maybe too much work after all some people just don’t want to do the work required to make a change, but they are another story…
Nothing stays the same and change is inevitable and must happen…it is the way of life…it must be the way of education. Lecture did not and does not work…I was an excellent student but hated it…I found ways to help myself work through and around it it…but for God’s sake let’s stop deluding ourselves that what we did before worked…it didn’t really or maybe it did for a group of learners…but there was always a group that was not successful in school…we just didn’t track it like we do today…our dirty laundry is out now for everyone to see so we need to get people to be willing to take risks, fail, get back up and try again…after all we are here for the kids and to teach them and make them successful…RIGHT? So take a risk for them or find a new profession…too much, not delicately worded? Too bad!!
“Until the status quo is made more uncomfortable than reform there may be no reform”
This is a beautiful quote, Tom. It speaks to the highest level of leadership in education. I agree that when teachers are in a state of disequilibrium, they become unsure of which way to go. Another element needed to guide teachers through improvement and the change process are a foundation of trusting relationships. If the trust isn’t there, teachers will not take that leap forward mentally, even if forced to (contrived collegiality).
I think it’s an absolute shame that we allow teachers to stay stagnant in classrooms for 5, 10, 15, 20 years, teaching the same grade level or content area using the same methods, year in and year out. I often looked at those teachers and wondered, “How? Why are you doing this? How are you challenged at all by your daily work with students? What is it that you do each day, TODAY, that makes learning more meaningful for your kids than it was yesterday?”
Much of my belief is due to my experiences as a classroom teacher. I became restless after 2-3 years in the same position. A change to a new grade level, building, or content area was exciting for me (hence the eventual move to administration 🙂
Becoming stagnant is dangerous, to our own well-being, and to the learning lives of our children. It’s unfortunate that many administrators meet too much resistance when attempting to shake things up and expose teachers to new ideas, content areas, placements, and techniques.
I have always worked inside change, often being hired to work with staff as a consultant and also an admin. With the goal of student achievement being central. I have seen significant work being done across K -12 span especially when educators are privileged to compose their own methods and study their work. I don’t believe in professional development as agency is removed and I think it smart to resist reform that is not local or organic. Ambiguity is difficult and oddly rewarding. If you want to see teachers and admins who are making significant differences with kids go ahead and follow @ktbarnicle @gottsled and @shklepesch . They and many others are redefining high school often against great odds.
Teachers I have worked with in the past seem to think they cannot try something new or different because the system won’t allow it. Somewhere along the way a Principal or senior teacher said “Oh, no, you can’t do that!”
As a Principal and “risk taker” I now openly tell teachers that the can and should take risks. Whenever somebody asks me for permission, my first instict is to say go for it.
The very successful Finnish model attracts good teacher, and then gives them the complete control over how they run their classrooms.
I think more pincipals need to have more trust in their teachers and know that their risks and trials are the only way we’ll make any progress in education.